First Look at Robert Geller and G-Shock New Watch

Robert Geller has been to Japan 40 times over the last decade. It makes sense, considering the NYC-based designer’s namesake clothing line is produced there. And it’s why, when it came time for him to create the very first G-Steel collaboration with Casio, he looked to the land of the rising sun for inspiration for his limited-edition G-Shock x Robert Geller timepiece.

Based on multiple trips to Tokyo to work on his men’s fashion collections, Geller’s input adds his contemporary sense of style to “the toughest watch of all time.” Tokyo’s magic hour—the time just before sunrise—plays a very significant role in his G-Steel collaboration, Geller explains. “My favorite time in Tokyo is walking through the city in the middle of the night when its impossible to sleep because of the jet-lag. This idea of walking late at night when it starts to quiet down a little bit: You still have the smells from the Japanese barbecue and the trees and the neon lights are still on, but it’s got this magical, almost serene feeling.”

Having featured G-Shock timepieces in his last five runway presentations during New York Fashion Week: Men’s, it was only natural that Gellar would come to design his very own G-Shock. The watch company agreed that the collab was a natural fit, and the lengthy two-year design process began.

Gellar is thrilled with how it came out. “I like the size of it,” he says. “I like the shape of it. Right away, I love the way that it looks. We’re the first ones ever to do a collaboration on that style. I think that was about a year and a half to two years ago when we started to talk about possibilities of designing and getting into materials and colors.”

Not to mention the watch’s creds: G-Shock’s extreme functionality and strength are world renowned, and the 54MM G-Steel with gold and fuchsia accents adds to the black ion-plated stainless steel seriousness. A solar-powered battery keeps the watch working almost indefinitely. Water resistant to 200 meters and shock-resistant, the watch also features an auto super illuminator LED light, bright luminous hands, 31 world time zones including UTC universal time, five daily alarms, a stopwatch and a countdown timer, and it’s readable in either a 12- or 24-hour format.

None of this is surprising from a menswear designer known as a bit of a fashion forecaster. “I think that it’s an interesting time for watches because of the need for them is gone, but the desire for them is still there,” Gellar continues. “It is funny: Doing this, so many people that have come up to me and said, ‘Oh my god, I used to wear G-Shock all the time!’ It is nostalgic; it’s cool for my generation. Then there are the tons of G-Shock fans—people who are just so into collecting that I’ve gotten to know through this process—and I think they’ll all be excited about it.”

The G-Shock x Robert Geller is a limited edition of only 600 watches and is on sale now.